Profile of the Department

UNESCO Department belongs to the international UNESCO-Chairs network. Its main programme has been focused on ecological minimum – a system of ecological knowledge for different members of society that can develop their ecological awareness. We follow the basic principle that „just people with ecological awareness and knowledge on ecological priciples of living Earth are capable to implement those principles into our everyday life and, by this way, it is possible to ensure the sustainable development“.

Following the principle of integration of science, research and education, the Department´s research has been concentrated on project types mirroring the Department´s educational activities. These comprise projects with focus on public participation in environmental decision-making, spatial planning processes, integrated landscape management, landscape - ecological evaluation, environmental management, and environmental legislation.

The Department guarantees the cross disciplinary study programme entitled „Environmental Management“ that integrates knowledge from natural, technical and social sciences. The programme is offered for students on site, as well as for distance learning students. 

The UNESCO Department has been established by the Agreement between UNESCO Paris and Technical University in Zvolen, Faculty of Ecology under the framework of a worldwide UNITWIN-UNESCO Chairs Programme.

The Deapartment has been placed into the UNESCO World Heritage town of Banská Štiavnica (there is still the Department´s office) due to its extraordinary historical, cultural and natural values. The town with its surrounding technical movements havse been listed in the UNESCO Heritage list since 1993, being the first list member from Slovakia. The town of Banská Štiavnica has been considered as a place with a long term educational traditions. In this context, the Technical University in Zvolen is a successor of a former Mining Academy in Banská Štiavnica – the oldest Technical University in the world. Historical, educational and natural values were the main factors for finding a location for the UNESCO Department.

Besides standard educational and research activities, the Department is also focused on specific forms of ecological awareness promotion, which result from the Agreement and UNESCO Chairs curricula.